A glorious circular 11 mile walk in the Howgills in Cumbria, climbing up by Bowderdale to the Calf and returning by West Fell.

Date Walked: 10th October 2018

Distance: 11 miles

Map used: OS Explorer OS 19 – Howgill Fells and Upper Eden Valley

Guide book: Lune Valley and Howgill Fells – a Walking Guide by Dennis and Jan Kelsall

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Day 2 of my stay with Bob in Ravenstondale  and, blessed with a bright blue sky, we were up for a decent walk. Bob had selected another circular route from this excellent guide book, which informed us that we would be making 1985 feet of height gain over the course of its estimated 5 and a half hours – nothing to intimidate us.  We left Bobs luxury bespoke camper van (carefully avoiding scraping the paintwork on the pylon fixing cable) by the hamlet of Bowderdale….

….. and took a little tarmac road, passing an attractive holiday home.

If you are interested its called “Bowderdale Foot” ; here’s a link to it’s listing on Tripadvisor. 

Just after the cottage a  finger post directed us onto a bridleway heading due south.

It was a gentle climb for a mile on this track….

…. passing a small conifer plantation….

…… and then keeping by a  drystone wall ……

Ahead is the top of West Fell which we would come down from at the end of the walk

….until we reached a point where we would return to as we descended off West Fell at the end of the walk, but which would also lead us down to Bowderdale Beck.

The extraordinary thing about the Howgills is that there appears to be no buildings of any sort – and no electricity or telephone lines to domestic the views.  The only evidence of human occupation were occasional  stone built sheep pens – long disused.

There weren’t even that many sheep.

To left and right springs had carved  little brooks in the valley sides that crossed our path and fed into Bowderdale Beck.

One or two of these had been named on the map; Randy Top Gill rushed  down from Randy Top, which Bob and I had climbed on our last visit.

In Hazel Gill, over to our right below a summit called Hazelgill Knott, one or two trees had established themselves, begging the question why there and not elsewhere?

So far we had not encountered anyone but as we began our climb we made way for a solitary mountain biker who was cautiously negotiating the now narrow track.  I really think bicycling in this terrain is bonkers, but each to their own.

It was quite a steep mile from the last stream we crossed (Ram’s Gill) to a plateau at the edge of Cautley Crag – time enough for me to pull ahead a bit  as Bob slowed somewhat – his stupendous thighs were not a match for the few extra stone he carries over me.

As we neared the Calf, the views got better…..

…..and better.

A pond near the top appeared the deepest of blues against an already impressively blue sky.

A runner coming off The Calf  gave us our second encounter of the day.

Also not my idea of fun but my running days are long gone.

And then we reached the trig point at 2,227 feet and I managed to get my time-delay facility on the camera to work.

According to the guide book from here you can see Scarfell Pike, Great Gable, Helvellyn and the Yorkshire three peaks; I believe it, though thankfully there was not a notice board pointing out all these peaks.  So I can just say that the views all around were stonking.

Several other hikers came and went as we sat and savoured the scene.

Our return necessitated a short retracing of steps, leaving our outward path at the pond and heading for Hazelgill Knott.

Over to our left Langdale Beck meandered its way north in textbook fashion.

This ridge walk  back was absolutely stunning, requiring from us no end of “ooo’s and “ahhhs”.

According to the guide book, this ” is one of the highlights of the whole walk and gives a superb prospect of the complex ridges and valleys that buttress the northern Howgill plateau”.  And so it was.

It was, and I hate to say this, breathtaking. Even the sheep were speechless.

After Hazelgill Knott (1,896 feet), this saddle dropped a few hundred feet before climbing again to the highest point of West Fell (1,778 feet).

From West Fell the dominant views were north  to the lush valley of the River Lune that were were walking in yesterday.

A farmer raced up the track on his quad bike, his dog perched precariously beside him,  the farmer clinging onto his companion with his left arm, whilst steering with his right.

It was pretty well downhill all the way from here, the patch of conifer that we passed on our way out was easy to pick out.

The views looking back up the Bowderdale valley kept on giving, though.

Needless to say our pace going downhill was a lot faster and we were soon back on our outgoing track….

…. and short section of road.

By the bridge at Bowderdale Foot I noticed a remarkable fusion of two different tree species (Beech and Ash, I think). Joined at the base, they had both managed to get to maturity.  Well, I thought it was remarkable, obvs.

Once again our timing was perfect, for we were back at the pub where another piece of cake awaited me to accompany a pot of tea, followed by a bath and a pre-supper snooze. Perfect.

Most of these pictures – and quite a few others that I did not use- can be licenced for use  at Getty photos. Click this link to see.